[PiersonMD]

Hello everyone,

For starters, I'm actually Canadian but there's not alot of stock here so I might order from a USA website.

I'm looking for my first DAP. My phone is a flip phone and no good at music.

I do not want streaming apps, YouTube, web browser, or related. It would be awesome if it was totally offline.
I hear metal casing is a sign of quality. I'll be playing MP3 and FLAC primarily.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[baskingshark]

U can check out the Shanling Q1. Small and light. It is a neutral DAP, has 20+ hours battery life and BT.

Shanling also updates their firmware regularly, so that's a good thing about their DAPs.

 

[DenverW]

The best I've heard so far in that price range is the sony nw-a35 or 45 (used) with the mr.walkman firmware installed. I got mine for just under $100, and the firmware installed like a breeze with no issues.

 

[PiersonMD]

The best I've heard so far in that price range is the sony nw-a35 or 45 (used) with the mr.walkman firmware installed. I got mine for just under $100, and the firmware installed like a breeze with no issues.

I'll look into the custom firmware. I was worried about Sony's proprietary software Sensme for adding music.

 

[jmwant]

Shanling Q1. great battery life, looks cute and sounds neutral.

 

[PiersonMD]

Shanling Q1. great battery life, looks cute and sounds neutral.

Yeah, after looking a bit found where it's sold on the Shenzhen audio. Fortunately, they ship to Canada. I'll wait until new years

 

[jmwant]

Yeah, after looking a bit found where it's sold on the Shenzhen audio. Fortunately, they ship to Canada. I'll wait until new years

Check HiFiGo too, a lot of Shanling products are on sale there.

 

[sleepdeprecation]

I'll look into the custom firmware. I was worried about Sony's proprietary software Sensme for adding music.

I’m pretty sure you can just put music on a microSD card and not have to deal with sony’s software for the most part.

The thing that concerns me most about the NW-A55 is that it still uses the WM port, and WM cables are expensive and hard to find outside of Japan.

As an aside, I’m really hoping they announce a new A-series walkman but with usb-c instead of the WM port, because that’s the big thing that steered me away from Sony’s non-android players.

 

[jmwant]

I’m pretty sure you can just put music on a microSD card and not have to deal with sony’s software for the most part.

The thing that concerns me most about the NW-A55 is that it still uses the WM port, and WM cables are expensive and hard to find outside of Japan.

As an aside, I’m really hoping they announce a new A-series walkman but with usb-c instead of the WM port, because that’s the big thing that steered me away from Sony’s non-android players.

Plus you need to spend another $20 for a lineout cable.

 

[baskingshark]

Plus you need to spend another $20 for a lineout cable.

I have 2 Sony A55s at home and the Line Out also doesn't work with the customized Mr Walkman Firmware mod.

Nevertheless, the A55 with the firmware mod sounds extremely good. It is coloured in a warm and buttery smooth tonality, with almost 30 hours battery life.

 

[sleepdeprecation]

Plus you need to spend another $20 for a lineout cable.

Why do you need a line out cable? The 3.5mm jack should be fine?

the A55 with the firmware mod sounds extremely good. It is coloured in a warm and buttery smooth tonality, with almost 30 hours battery life

Everybody saying the sound quality is superb, and the amazing battery life were the two things that really attracted me to the A55. I ultimately got the a&k SR25, which I mostly like, but i’m still very interested in the A55 and may get one just because.

 

[baskingshark]

Everybody saying the sound quality is superb, and the amazing battery life were the two things that really attracted me to the A55. I ultimately got the a&k SR25, which I mostly like, but i’m still very interested in the A55 and may get one just because.

Yep the stock A55 sounds very meh. But once you put in the Mr Walkman custom firmware (can be found here for free: https://www.nwmods.ml/), it sounds magical. Soundstage, layering and tonality are vastly improved, and the customized A55 sounds much better and more expensive! Interestingly, the original A55 stock tuning gives around 20+ hours battery life, but with the firmware mod, it goes to 30 hours (plus V2 mode).

There's a headfi thread for it here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sony-walkman-custom-firmware-non-android.943661/

The current Mr Walkman custom firmware has 4 tuning options, from bright to neutral to warm, so pick your poison. They can be changed easily, and there are some region unlocks too to boost volume. I bought my two A55 at firsthand around $130 and $150 USD each during sales.

How is the A&K SR25 by the way? Read good things about it.

 

[sleepdeprecation]

How is the A&K SR25 by the way? Read good things about it

I mostly like it. Sound quality is great, battery life is amazing for android DAPs (20ish hours), I love that most of android is completely hidden (something that drove me away from other android based DAPs), but I have a couple minor complaints.

The biggest one is just that it takes forever to turn on, but I think that’s true of all android DAPs. I think the software could use a little work, finding my music can be tough if I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for. And my final minor complaint is that the side control buttons are very small. I tried using a case on it at first, but hitting anywhere near the buttons would cause it to randomly select one of them to trigger, so I ended up having to take it off.

To be clear I don’t regret the purchase, I like a lot of what it can do, but I also think it could’ve been done better.

 

[PiersonMD]

A couple people have mentioned the A55, where are you getting them? On Amazon (Canada) it's $300+!

 

[sleepdeprecation]

A couple people have mentioned the A55, where are you getting them? On Amazon (Canada) it's $300+!

For black friday I think B&H had them for $150ish new? Amazon US has them for $170usd. B&H is probably the same price right now.

If you’re okay with used, you can find some on ebay, though they’re strangely more expensive (I think people are hoping to make back their money and didn’t see the current new price). You can also find new ones for the same price as amazon